36 
FLORA AND SYLVA 
R. Falconeri. — A very striking plant with 
leaves often over a foot long and 6 inches wide, 
corrugated on the upper surface and covered 
beneath with cinnamon-tinted tomentum. It 
bears its tubular, white flowers in compact 
trusses, as many as 30 being sometimes carried 
in a single truss. The noblest specimen known 
to me is at Tregothnan, where, last year it 
measured 2 2 feet in height and 30 feet through. 
It is of perfect shape, and clothed with foliage 
down to the ground on all sides. In 1902 it 
bore over a thousand flower-trusses. R. exi- 
mium is a form of R. Falconeri^ with pink 
flowers and a thicker downy coating on the 
under sides of the leaves, this appearing more 
thinly upon the upper surface also. 
jR. Fordi. — A species discovered by Mr. 
Ford, curator of the Hongkong Gardens : it 
bears white, rose-tinted flowers 2 inches across. 
R. julgens. — A nearly hardy species similar 
in foliage to R. campanulatum^ bearing small, 
compact trusses, about 4 inches across, of bright 
red, shining flowers. It blooms sometimes be- 
fore R. arboreum. Bushes 10 feet high and as 
much through, are at Tremough. 
R. gloxinicejiorum. — Introduced by the late 
Mr. Robert Veitch, of Exeter, hardier than 
most Sikkim Rhododendrons, bearing large, 
waxy-white flowers with a few purple spots in 
the interior. There is a bush at Whiteway 
about 10 feet high and as much through. 
R. grande. — This is better known by its old 
name of R. argenteum^ a title justified by the 
silvery under side of its leaves, which are often 
over a foot in length. It is a handsome kind, 
bearing somewhat loose trusses about i o inches 
across, of white, bell-shaped flowers ^\ inches 
in diameter. These are at first suff^used with a 
faint rose tint. At the base of the cup are 
purple blotches. In some forms the anthers 
are crimson-tipped. The finest I know is at 
Tregothnan. This is 16 feet in height and 
about 20 feet through, and in 1902 bore over 
300 flower-trusses. Some variation in the time 
of blooming appears to exist, as at Trewidden 
it flowers in January and early February, while 
at Tregothnan it was at its best in 1902 
towards the end of May. Our engraving, so 
finely done by M. Pochon, is from a drawing 
by Mr. Moon. 
R. Griffithianum, — Much grown in the 
south-west as R. Aucklandi^ and the noblest 
kind of all. The late Rev. Henry Ewbank, of 
Ryde, Isle of Wight, writing of it a few years 
ago, described it as "the glory of the Himalayas, 
and queen of all flowering shrubs." Its narrow 
leaves are often nearly a foot in length and of 
a rich and glossy green. Its great, pure-white, 
widely-open flowers often exceed 5 inches in 
diameter, and I have counted as many as nine 
in a single truss. The finest specimen that I 
have met with is growing at Killiow, near 
Truro, and is about 15 feet in height and 22 
feet through. This is probably the finest plant 
of its kind in the British Isles. It was planted 
in 1864, so has been forty years in its present 
home. This form has a deep carmine spot at 
the base of the anthers and is a picture of 
marvellous beauty when smothered with its 
large white blossoms in May. Many gardens, 
such as Menabilly, Trebah, and others, possess 
rose-coloured forms of R. Griffithianum. This 
kind is, for the first twenty years of its life, one 
of the quickest growers, as is shown by the 
great bushes raised from seed at Tremough 
during the past twenty years. It is a tender 
species, Mr. Ewbank having twice lost it even 
in the Isle of Wight. 
R. Hodgsoni. — A plant with leathery leaves 
a foot long, covered beneath with grey down 
and bearing rosy-purple flowers. 
R. nilagiricum. — Now considered as a form 
of R. arboreum. It bears cone-like trusses of 
bell-shaped flowers, soft rose in tint. 
R. niveum. — This owes its name to its young 
leaves being of silvery whiteness on both sides, 
but when fully developed this colour is only 
seen on the under side. The flowers are of an 
unpleasant magenta colour. At Tremough 
there is a plant 15 feet high and of a like 
diameter. 
R. Nuttalli. — A particularly handsome 
species, but rarely grown in the open. The 
flowers often exceed 5 inches in diameter, and 
are pure white with a yellow shading at the 
base of the cup. The splendid truss sent from 
Scorrier House to the Truro Show of the 
Cornwall Daffodil and Spring Flower Society 
three years ago, was one of the sights of the 
exhibition. This species has flowered in the 
open against a wall in the garden of the Hon. 
John Boscawen at Tregye. 
